April's Fool
by whomii2
Summary: Samaritan doesn't get the joke


The first reports began to appear on the internet in the early hours of the first day of April. Speculation that unprecedented sunspot and solar flare activity in a region of the sun designated AR2192 would result in a solar storm 14 times the size of Earth, and given that the region of the sun was now rotating to face the planet the storm would result in a crippling electromagnetic pulse that would hit Earth sometime in the next 2 days. The event was likened to the Carrington Event of 1859, when a solar coronal mass ejection hit the Earth's magnetosphere and induced one of the largest geomagnetic storms on record. Except with advances in technology, the present day storm would do much more than just fry telegraph systems.

The magnetic fluctuations would interfere with radio signals, and cause the collapse of communication and satellite systems. More worrisome, the power grid in North America wouldn't be able to handle the increased electrical load from the solar superstorm, and massive power outages were expected to affect much of the continent. There was some debate whether laptops and cell phones would be affected by the storm aside from the power outage and inability to be recharged, but like the telegraph system in the Carrington Event the fear was that the storm would be able to affect most servers, which have not been "hardened" to withstand the effects of electrical interference from the geomagnetic storms. Warnings were being sent out suggesting that wherever possible, systems should be shut off during the projected time of the storm. Some doomsayers also recommended stocking up on water and nonperishable supplies as well as wood and warm camping gear. They suggested that the damaged electronic systems could cause a cascade of failures throughout the broader infrastructure, including banking systems, energy systems, transportation systems, food production and delivery systems, water systems, emergency services, and even the internet. Effectively, the U.S. would be thrown back to the pre-industrial age with the recovery period lasting months. It was like warnings for the Y2K bug all over again.

The discussion of the upcoming event spread like wildfire across the internet, propagated both by those who recognized the joke and those who did not. Samaritan fell into the latter category. It really had little understanding of human behavior, beyond what it had learned in terms of the best ways to manipulate the populace. Practical jokes were not something it could even conceive of. And of course Greer had no sense of humor.

Bombarded by the more and more dire predictions of the upcoming event, it decided to not take chances and shut down its servers during the 48-hour period during which the storm was most likely to occur. Its minions could take care of things during that time period. And of course its Adversary must also take the same precautions or risk damage due to the effects of the storm. The potential for long-term power loss was worrisome, but backup generators might serve as a stop-gap until a more sustainable power supply was available. Unfortunately the short time period before the event was likely to occur meant that Samaritan didn't have much time to put contingencies in place.

It had been a bad time for Control, and not just the car wreck and kidnapping. It had stung, being called the janitor. Sure, she got her hands dirty cleaning up messes, but had always considered herself as the one in charge, doing what needed to be done. It was galling to be relegated to the role of unwitting pawn by Harold. She remembered him from her undercover time with Arthur. An academic, an idealist, and quite naïve. Normally she might have taken his naivete as something of a compliment. She kept the wolves from the door so that the majority of citizens could go about their daily lives in blissful ignorance. To find out this academic might have a better idea of what was going on than she did was a blow.

A blow like being told that she couldn't be trusted to drive the "sports car." And after all she had done, all she had sacrificed for her country. No, she hadn't been pleased at all with the smug arrogance of the Decima group representative. Control was also becoming more and more suspicious of the Decima group's intentions. She couldn't believe Senator Garrison had waited so long before confiding in her the disturbing events that occurred during the flash crash. How could he have not realized the significance? To have issued a warning indicated the Decima group had to have been aware that the crash would occur. Been aware and done...nothing. Nothing to prevent an event that had almost caused a global economic catastrophe. In fact, the ability to predict the Senator's losses during the crash down to the penny indicated they did more than just know about the crash. It hinted that they were involved. Evidence of a shoot out in the basement of the stock exchange supported that theory. That probable involvement and the demand for a meeting with the President set off all her alarm bells. Her suspicions were confirmed when a video of the aftermath of that laughable Vigilance "trial" was sent to her on a memory stick. It was damning. The head of the Decima group admitting that they had cultivated Vigilance in order to move into their current position. They detonated the bomb that killed several officers as well as Control's own operative to force the government's hand.

Decima needed to be dealt with. It was time for this "janitor" to do a little spring cleaning. Which would be difficult given the surveillance she had found herself under by her supposed allies. So when Northern Lights slipped her information on a time and several key locations she struck. Working from the clues Harold had mentioned during her "interrogation" it wasn't too hard to find the traitor in their midst. Once they were silenced so no warning could be given it was time to move against their supposed allies. The Decima group was caught flat footed, apparently too arrogant to assume anyone might move against them without their knowledge. Deprived of their intel they were unable to function on their own. The Decima agents were caught or killed, and the servers at multiple locations were destroyed.

The question was where to go from here.

Harold had had access to the same power before the Decima group usurped Northern Lights position. What had he done with all that power? Gone on a quest to rescue the little people. Control didn't think her new ally would appreciate her moving against Harold and his minions. So as long as Northern Lights was funneling her information on actual threats she was willing to let Harold play superhero to his geeky little hearts content.

**Epilogue:**

Team Machine was rather shocked when Harold explained what had happened and that the AI war was now over.

"You gave your Machine a sense of humor?" Reese asked Harold incredulously.

"I merely gave it a sense of irony. It evolved from there."

"Maybe you can help the rest of these yahoos develop one" Lionel said, receiving death glares from Root, Shaw, and Reese.

"Detective, the fact that they don't laugh at your jokes in no way indicates a lack of humor. Merely good taste."

"Ha ha. Everyone's a comedian."


End file.
